Tent structure

ABSTRACT

A TENT STRUCTURE ADAPTED TO BE SUSPENDED ADJACENT AND SUPPORTED BY A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY SURFACE SUCH AS A WALL, DOOR OR THE LIKE, INCLUDING A TOP PORTION FORMED FROM A FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL AND HAVING AN APEX, BASE, AND SIDE EDGES EXTENDIGN FROM SAID APEX TO SAID BASE ADJACENT THE VERTICAL SURFACE, A WALL PORTION FORMED FROM A FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL AND CONNECTED TO THE BASE OF SAID TOP PORTION AND HAVING SIDE EDGES ADJACENT THE VERTICAL SURFACE, MEANS CONNECTED TO THE APEX SUSPENDING THE TENT STRUCTURE ADJACENT THE VERTICAL SURFACE, AND SUPPORT MEANS MOUNTED ALONG THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID TOP AND WALL PORTIONS AND HAVING TERMINAL ENDS BEARING AGAINST THE VERTICAL SURFACE AND A BODY PORTION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM SUPPORTING THE TOP AND WALL PORTIONS IN AN EXTENDED POSITION, WHEREBY THE TOP AND THE WALL PORTIONS WITH THE VERTICAL SURFACE FORM AN ENCLOSURE.

Sept. 20, 1971 c, ox ETAL TENT STRUCTURE Filed April 1, 1969 S. 5 i w m m XE %%m cmm Y. 0 M mfi W m United States Patent 3,605,771 TENT STRUCTURE Gay C. Fox, 307 Tomahawk Ave., and Mary E. Droppers, Box 1196, both of Black Mountain, N.C. 28711 Filed Apr. 1, 1969, Ser. No. 812,201 Int. Cl. A45f 1/00 U.S. Cl. 135--1 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tent structure adapted to be suspended adjacent and supported by a substantially vertical surface such as a wall, door or the like, including a top portion formed from a flexible sheet material and having an apex, base, and side edges extending from said apex to said base adjacent the vertical surface, a wall portion formed from a flexible sheet material and connected to the base of said top portion and having side edges adjacent the vertical surface, means connected to the apex suspending the tent structure adjacent the vertical surface, and support means mounted along the connection between said top and wall portions and having terminal ends bearing against the vertical surface and a body portion extending outwardly therefrom supporting the top and wall portions in an extended position, whereby the top and the wall portions with the vertical surface form an enclosure.

This invention relates in general to a tent structure and more particularly to a partial tent structure adapted to be suspended adjacent and supported by a substantially vertical surface such as a wall, door or the like and to form with the vertical surface a tent-like enclosure.

Ten structures have taken on many forms and shapes, most of which have been supported from the ground through a complication of support members and thus, require skilled personnel and a considerable amount of time to erect and/or strike. Furthermore, these tent structures have not been capable of storage in a compact manner.

As is well known, children of all ages are continuously fascinated by tents and accordingly, have a desire to have a tent as a toy. Heretofore, tent structures have not been readily acceptable for such use for numerous reasons, such as, the inability of a child to erect and/or strike the tent structure, the considerable time consumed in erecting and/or striking the tent structure being discouraging to the child, the inability to store the tent in a compact manner, the large amount of space consumed by the tent structure when erected and more particularly, the prohibitive cost of available tent structures.

With the aforementioned in mind, an object of this invention is the provision of a tent structure which is simply and inexpensively constructed and particularly adapted for use as a childs toy or plaything which the child can erect and/or strike quickly and easily.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a tent structure having a minimum of support members and which can readily be stored in a compact manner.

Another and still further object of this invention is the provision of a partial tent structure which may be suspended adjacent and supported by a substantially vertical surface with the vertical surface forming part of the enclosure, and thus, minimizing the space consumed by the tent structure and which can be used indoors as well as outdoors.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of a tent structure of this in- 3,605,771 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 vention suspended adjacent and supported by a substantially vertical surf-ace;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the tent structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the tent structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tubular support member of the tent structure of FIG. 1, being enlarged and somewhat exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the manner in which the component parts of the tubular support member may be separated;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2 and again exaggerating the size of the tubular support member, for clarity.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein like numerals are used to indicate like parts :where possible, there is generally shown in FIG. 1 a substantially vertical surface 10 such as a wall, and a substantially horizontal surface 11 such as a floor, extending outwardly therefrom wherein a tent structure 12 of this invention is shown suspended adjacent and supported by the vertical surface 10.

The top portion 13 of the tent structure 12 is formed from a flexible sheet material such as plastic, textile fabric or the like and has a substantially semi-conical configuration with an apex 14, a substantially semi-circular base 15 and side edges 16 extending from the apex 14 to the base 15 adjacent the vertical surface 10. The semi-conical configuration may as shown be formed by stitching together a plurality of sectors 1'7 of a circle along mating edges 17a with apexes 17b cumulating to form apex 14 of the top portion 13 and arcuate bases 17c cumulating to form the substantially semi-circular base 15 of the top portion 13.

The wall portion 20 is also formed from a flexible sheet material such as plastic, textile fabric or the like, and has a substantially semi-cylindrical configuration with a folded back top edge portion 20a secured by stitching 21 to the base 15 of the top portion 13 to form a hem 35, a bottom edge 22 and side edges 23 extending adjacent the vertical surface 10. An aperture 24 is provided in the central portion of wall portion 20 and extends from the bottom edge 22 upwardly to form an opening for ingress and egress. Additional apertures may be formed in the tent structure 12 as desired to serve as windows, vents, and the like.

Connected to the apex 14 of the top portion 13 is means suspending the tent structure 12 adjacent the vertical surface 10 with the bottom edge 22 of the :wall portion 20 in close proximity to the substantially horizontal surface 11. While various means for suspending the tent structure 12 may be employed, FIGS. 13 show a cord 25 joined to the apex 14 and having a loop 26 formed therein which is hung over a nail 27. Instead of suspending the tent structure 12 from a nail 27, a picture or mirror support hook or other similar means may be used. Furthermore, the location of the loop 26 in relation to the apex 14 may be readily adjusted to vary the height from which the tent structure 12 may be suspended and still have the bottom edge 22 0f the wall portion 20 suspended in close proximity to the substantially horizontal surface 11 as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, picture and mirror hooks and the like already placed on walls throughout a house may be readily used to suspend the tent structure 12 of this invention without further damage to the walls.

The top portion 13 and wall portion 20 are supported in an extended position by a rigid, substantially semicircular, support member 30 removably mounted along the connection between the top portion 13 and wall portion 20 which has terminal ends 31 bearing against the vertical surface and a body portion 32 extending outwardly therefrom. The support member 30 is formed from two, arcuate shaped, plastic tubing members or segments 30a, 3% which are detachably secured end to end by a dowel pin 33 carried by the end of one of the arcuate shaped members 30a which fits within the end of the other arcuate shaped member 30]), FIG. 4. The stitched hem 35 provided along the top edge portion 20a of the wall portion 20, FIGS. 5 and 6, serves for receiving the support member 30. One end of the hem 35 is stitched closed and the other end is provided with a snap fastening device 36. Thus, the support member 30 may be inserted within the hem 35 and the snap fastening device 36 fastened to removably mount the support member 30 within the hem 35.

' The top portion 13 and wall portion 20 may also have a top fringe 40 forming an extension from the top portion or suitably attached thereto by a separate strip of material 41 and a wall fringe 42 suitably attached on the wall portion 20 above the aperture 24 therein for decorative purposes.

In order to erect the tent structure 12, the arcuate shaped tubing members 30a, 30b are joined end to end to define the support member 30 which is inserted through the hem 35 whereupon the snap fastening device 36 is fastened to mount the support member along the connection between the top portion 13 and wall portion 20. The tent structure is then suspended adjacent a vertical surface by hanging the loop 26 of cord 25 over a nail 27 or the like and the loop 26 adjusted until the bottom edge 22 of the wall portion 20 is in close proximity to the horizontal surface 11. With the tent structure 12 suspended, the support member 30 is positioned to have terminal ends 31 bear against the vertical surface and support the top portion 13 and Wall portion in an extended position whereby the top portion 13 and wall portion 20 with the vertical surface 10 form a tent-like enclosure. While the tent structure 12 has been described here as suspended adjacent a vertical surface 10 such as a wall, it can likewise be suspended adjacent and in front of a window with the window providing light or adjacent and in front of an open closet door wherein the closet serves as additional space within in which for the child I to play.

In striking the tent, the reverse procedure is followed, that is, remove the loop 26 from the nail 27, unsnap the fastening device 36 and withdraw the support member 30 from the hem 35. The support member 30 may then 4 be separated into its component parts 30a, 30b and made ready for storage. The to portion 13 and Wall portion 20 may be folded into a compact unit and stored with the component parts 30a, 30b of the support member 30.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

We claim:

1. A tent adapted to be suspended adjacent and supported by a substantially vertical surface, wall, door or the like, comprising a continuous top portion formed from a flexible sheet material and having a substantially semi-conical configuration with an apex, a substantially semi-circular base and side edges adapted to extend adjacent the vertical surface,

a wall portion formed from a flexible sheet material and having a substantially semi-cylindrical configuration with an aperture for ingress and egress and including a folded back top edge portion fixedly connected to said semi-circular base of said top portion and defining a hem extending therealong,

means connected to the apex of said top portion for supportingly suspending the tent adjacent the vertical surface and,

a substantially semi-circular support member positioned in said hem and having terminal ends and an intermediate body portion, said terminal ends adapted to bear against the substantially vertical surface with said body portion extending horizontally outwardly therefrom and supporting the tent in an arcuately extended position such that said top and Wall portions and vertical surface form an enclosure, said support member comprising a plurality of segments detachably secured together in end to end relationship.

2. A tent as defined in claim 1, wherein the top portion comprises a plurality of joined sectors of a circle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PETER M. CAUN, Primary Examiner 

